(Credits: Paramount Plus)
Sylvester Stallone has tried a lot of different things across his career.
He’s tried playing a superhero in both Judge Dredd and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, the antagonist of the ‘Spy Kids’ in their third outing, and he’s lent his voice to an ant, a lion, and half-man, half-shark hybrid. He even had a go at softcore porn with his earliest starring vehicle, The Party at Kitty and Stud’s. Truly, there is nothing he can’t do.
All of this is fine and all, but come on. We all know there’s one arena in which Stallone’s star shines brightest – action movies. From the moment he burst onto the screen in a hail of bullets for the first ‘Rambo’ movie, everyone and their mums could identify him as the genre’s next big star.
Over the years, he’s punched, shot, stabbed, blown up, run over, and generally been nasty to hundreds of goons, henchmen, and bad guys. He represents a style of action star that doesn’t really exist anymore, for reasons both good and bad.
Action movies have made Stallone a millionaire many times over and a globally recognised superstar. However, dealing with a legacy system can’t be a daunting task. In an interview with The New York Times, the man behind Rocky Balboa revealed that he has a very interesting relationship with the label that made him famous.
“I actually hate the word ‘action’ actor because I call it mythology,” he said. “That mentality – we need mythological heroes.” Right. Strap yourself in, folks. There’s a lot to unpack here.
Stallone just outright compared himself to a mythological character. In fact, the example quoted in the article is The Odyssey, which is pretty much the Greek myth. Maybe that’s him hinting at a cameo in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming movie, who knows? The characters Stallone puts himself in the same league as some of the greatest in all of fiction, whose stories still inspire and motivate people thousands of years after they were first told. I can’t say for sure, but something tells me nobody is going to be talking about The Expendables 3 in the year 3025.
The action genre isn’t supposed to take itself seriously, especially when Sly is involved. He’s been responsible for some of the silliest shoot-em-ups of all time, from Tango & Cash to Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot. Sure, he’s had his successes, but when you put his entire body of work on the scales, you’ll find that the bad far outweighs the good. That’s fine too. Nobody bats a thousand in Hollywood. Then again, other actors don’t refer to their films as “mythology” either.
It’s entirely possible that Sly simply said this to make people angry, in which case, mission accomplished. But if he was being deadly serious about viewing himself this way, then he just brought a whole meaning to the word ‘ego’. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being an action hero, no matter what some snobbier members of the movie community might say. Just own it, and certainly don’t try and pass it off as something it’s not.
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